July 2016

iSleepy. But I’ll try and post and remain coherent. But when I’m sleepy I can fall asleep and start having mini dreams instantly. I was actually just drooling on my arm like twelve seconds ago. And now I almost just dropped my phone on my face – gotta hate when that happens. 

Buuuuut, today has been a grand day of blueberry picking! We took a couple friends a lot too, which more people can always make adventure merrier. Buuut we didn’t have enough berry pickers ! So I stopped at handy dandy Ulmers on my way out to pick up one up. I got a yummy, fair trade, chocolate bar there too. Thanks, Ulmers! 

I really like chocolate, and I’d like to eat more fair trade chocolate and less regular chocolate. There was an African guy at BYUH who started an organization to help stop child labor in the cocoa plantations in Africa. Well Africa it’s called. Anyway, I can do more to help the world. I’m not saying that me eating fair trade chocolate will change the world, but anyway, it’s better than regular stuff, and like 5x more expensive, but that’s okay. You get what you pay for. 

So Dad called me up about 9 this morning asking about berry picking across the bay. I was cozy in bed at the time, waking up, and thinking about spending a nice day at home taking care of stuffs. I hadn’t even moved to look out the window yet so I didn’t know the daily weather report. My pops said it’d be good to go, but maybe we could go next week too, when it was sunnier. So I decided to think about it, and was feeling kind of tired to adventure. Summer can wear us out up here with lots of visitors, work, and play! Fortunately I have been getting plenty of sleep, but I still get tired. But thank you naps! Oh these baby free, pregnant, summer days. They’re good ones. Looking forward to holding a sweet babe though. 

I decided to go berry picking. I felt like I should so I did. I took Edel (and Piper) for a nice morning walk and playtime, then came home and got ready. I showered, ate some flapjacks, and got a few snacks together, since we’d be gone all day. I was a few minutes behind schedule, but that can happen. 

Jakolof Bay was our destination today. I’d  only been there once before and it had been about 8-9 years. It’s an interesting little place and I want Chris to go too. So the day turned out gray and drizzly, and I’m glad! It kept some bugs away!

We had to do some bushwhacking to find some prime blueberry patches. My pops and I have done plenty of that in our time. This time it was extra worth it because holy berries!  

It was lovely to harvest from the earth’s bounty and plenty. The berries were better than I’d ever seen them, and we each just spent lots of solo time with our berry pickers, filling big ziploc bags. It was a soggy time, but the weather was pretty perf in my opinion, because very few pestering bugs! And I wasn’t hot and sticky worrying about spiders either. 

All of us were decked out in our rain gear, and we picked for a number of hours. I eventually had to pee, and that was slightly difficult, because it was a lot of layers to pull down, and I didn’t want any bugs to get my tush, nor did I want to get poked by Devils club. But alas, you got to do whatchu got to do. 

I got tired and burnt out after a couple hours, and I laid down with my berry picker and dumped berries in my mouth. Hahaha. 

I pretty much stayed in the same tiny area the whole time, with a few big, plentiful blueberry patches. At one point I trekked it up the hillside looking for more berries, but I only found some salmon berries, many of which were surprisingly dying, and lots of thick Devils club. So I decided to go back down the hill because Dad yelled over that there were more berries by my original picking patch. It’s nice he looks out for me so much. He calls me his favorite youngest daughter (or FyD) and he’s my favorite oldest dad. I’ve actually got lots of titles for Dad, many of which come from the childhood days he and Carla and I adventured around the peninsula for years. 

He came back over and we worked on a big berrylicious area together. At this point I was getting fairly wet and bit cold and was ready to be done. When the bugs came out and I had to out on the head net, I knew I was ready to head back to the boat and warm up. So I filled my fourth gallon ziploc bag, said adios to Pa, and headed through the soppy greens with a pack pack full of blueberries. Perfect. 

My backpack was kind of heavy actually, but there was no one around to listen to me complain, so I didn’t complain. I was probably walking down the road kinda funny with my berry filled pack, my berry and baby filled belly, my wet clothes, and full bowels haha. 

As soon as I got back to the boat, I took off my rain gear, put on a dry sweater, and busted out my half of my PBJ. Gotta love them. After I grabbed the tp and wipes and headed to the port a potty at the top of the ramp. And omg, it was so full of poo that I headed straight for the woods instead. So, that was good. :) 

There’s my load of berries. I didn’t get as many as Dad and our two friends, but how awesome to get so many perfect blueberries! They don’t get much better than that! I want to make muffins, lots of smoothies, flapjacks, and more muff muffs. 

Our boat ride back was nice and calm, with plenty of sea birds and sea otters and a seal on the way. We all ate snacks and talked about how great the berry picking was. 

I had a couple boats to clean as soon as we got back, and that went well. I took my fellow boat cleaner girl, Annie, a little bag of blue berries and she was delighted. I’m really grateful she’s in the harbor and that we’ve both been cleaning for 10+ summers. It’s always good to see her. We bring each other treats sometimes and that’s fun. One year she shares some smoked salmon with me, and it was one of the first times I had enjoyed it. And she’s brought me yummy muffins she’s made too. Good stuff. Muff muff. 

At night, it was great to get back home to Edelweiss and our cats and our clean, welcoming home. Oh how I love our home and I love being here. I watched toy story 2, looked at great deals on Craigslist for baby stuff, and I somehow ate a delicious pint of Belgian chocolate haagendaz. Oops. I’m not sure how I ate it all… One delicious, chocolaty bite at a time I guess! I only regret half of it, because what a not healthy load of sugar and fat for me and bebe, but a girl’s gotta have dinner! ;) 

I’d like to find some delicious and healthier ice cream that is nice and chocolatey and doesn’t take advantage of child labor or cocoa plantations and doesn’t mistreat milk cows. :) Normally I get the talenti double dark chocolate gelato which is delish. Yum. But it’s really important to me where my food comes from and I like to be aware and mindful, ideally, not that I always am. 

Guess I should just be eating my delicious blue berries! So grateful for harvest times here in Alaska in our lovely summer. What a good place for us to life and be. 

I like to wear Chris’s shirts when he’s gone. And now that I have a baby belly, I like to wear them anyway since my shirts don’t really fit anymore. :) Bel was sweet and cuddly in the morning and got under the blankets for a bit. Cuddles are always nice. I wrote in my journal and read my scriptures before getting up this morning, which was unusual and really really enjoyable. When I got up I brushed my teeth with my nifty sonicare, and I’ve even been flossing regularly too!

Making the bed is much easier to do when just one person sleeps in it, though sleeping without Chris isn’t the greatest. I love this cream colored quilt of ours, my favorite color. :) But since the animals get on the bed all the time and half the time they’re dirty or hairy, we try and keep this blanket covered up. It IS really nice having Edel on the bed with me while Christopher is away though, and of course my faithful Simba. 

I usually like to eat or maybe have some tea when I first get up. I should drink more tea. 

Here’s our ever growing pile of mail that we don’t go through very well…and the exercise band next to the door that has been there for three years, and hasn’t been used for three years hahaha.

And there’s Edel, patiently waiting to get out, and little Piper outside wanting to come in. 

Piper says that she wants breakfast. 

Sometimes Bel and Piper follow along on our morning walks, and it’s so funny and wonderful. Usually they bolt down the trail in front of us at top speed. 

Today it was just Edel, my belly, and I. The cats were inside eating breakfast so they missed the family walk. I found a  few raspberries today and I loved that!

And while I was taking this picture I guess I dropped Edel’s ball launcher on the ground. 

Because when I get to the field, after Edel annoyingly pulled me down the muddy hill, I no longer had the launcher. So back to the woods I went. 

Found it.

Instead of going to the field like usual, we spent some time on the trail. Big juicy watermelon berries! These are fun for me to eat no matter what their stage of ripeness is. I even really like the green buds before they turn into berries. 

I was sloshing around in my Dutch girls, those yellow clogs, and my leggings were soaked. The forest was really wet today. 

And the devil’s club leaves are as big as ever.

Edel loves her walks each morning. We throw the ball and she runs and runs and loves playing fetch. We went to the field but there was already a lady there with her dog on leash, who said her dog is still getting used to other dogs. I put Edel on leash too, but then we headed back to the trail instead.

The fireweed has come early this year with the warmer weather. And it is ever so lovely. 

I’m so glad we have these trails and the field right next to our house. I love spending time out there, especially since my allergies seem to be getting better and I no longer die by just walking on the trail. I love this time of year, and my morning was a delight, until I got home and realized I had twenty minutes before I had to be at work haha. I had to shower and get ready really speedy, but I did it. Yay yay.

Piper cat is scratching at our bedroom window right now, wanting to go out and frolick in the dark rainy night. Our animals crack me up. Piper and Bel cuddle all the time, and the play fight a lot. Piper just lays on top of her mom and makes herself nice and comfortable. And she’s always going up to Edel and cuddling her too. Or if she isn’t, Edel is chasing her around the house to pin her down and munch on Piper, while Piper purrs along. 

I just let her out. Hopefully she and Bel don’t kill any birds or mice tonight. And since the window is closed, I know they won’t bring any live birds or mice inside to play with and kill, like they have previously done about ten times. Oh cats. 

Now I’m getting to sleepy to write about anything but our animals…

Well, the baby is moving lots and lots! Right this second he or she is wiggling around and I love it. Oh I love love love feeling it move. I love everything about being pregnant. Yes, I really do. 

I love the random comments and compliments from strangers and from friends. I love how beautiful the pregnant belly is. I love that I can nap when I’m sleepy. I love that I didn’t have to clean the litter box when we were cat sitting. I love how happy all our family is about our pregnancy. I love that my nieces always give me and my belly a hug. I love dreaming of the baby’s room. I love wondering how our half Chelsea and half Chris will become. 

Here’s a magical maternity photo that our friend Jeanee took the other day. 



I have one boat to clean. It’s been in for just over 3 hours. But I haven’t yet gone to the harbor because I’ve been occupied hanging out at home with the animals.

Chris’s brother and two oldest nephews have been here this past week, and they just left this afternoon. They all got some great man/boy/Alaska time, which was perfect for all of them. I got to spend some time with them too and I’m so glad they were able to come.

Honestly, sometimes you’re very glad to see people come, and you’re sometimes very sad to see them go haha. It’s just nice to get back to your regular life I guess. However, it would’ve been really nice to have Lincoln, Logan, and London around longer. Logan and I just started playing Super Mario World last night and we could’ve done more of that! :)

We usually get plenty of visitors here to Alaska and it’s nice to show people the land and life we love.

Some other visitors were the Darlings. We grew up with them as close family friends, and they hadn’t been here for 15 years or so. So nice to catch up with Frances and Amy and it was wonderful for them to be back here.

I’m so grateful to have Holly girl around. So glad we’re friends and that we have each other here. We miss our other sister Stacy girl too. How lovely to have siblings for BFFs.

And here’s my honey boy and I on a little boat ride. Boats… how nice they are! I love exploring around the bay and hanging out on different beaches.

I’ve done a little adventuring with my sister and brother in law and the girls, and that’s always a good time. Here’s me and my two favorites getting pulled in the zodiac behind the Arctic Assault. Haha it was so funny.

Our friend Jeanee took some pictures of me and of Holly and the girls. It was fun fun! Nice to get some pictures with my perfect belly that I love so much. I’m loving being pregnant and I love feeling the baby move inside of me~Dad and I went on a boating/kayak trip to Prince William Sound with a couple from our ward, Dave and Ann. They are actually the owners of the cabin my dad built and one of my childhood homes. We had a great few days on the water with them. I love this picture of Dad. I took the canon 60D with us and snapped some few pictures. It was nice to use a nicer camera than the iPhone, though the best camera is the one that is with you 

I love living around family and am grateful for all of them. My mom has been gone a lot this summer and we definitely miss having her around! My dear brother Jake and his girlfriend live just about an hour away, and it’s so nice to see them more often! I haven’t seen Chris enough lately though – WE MUST GO TO SUMMIT PASS.

Our weather has been stupendous, which of course makes life much nicer. I’m so glad to be tan again! Or to at least have a tan head and arms and some color on my legs. My belly is pretty white, but it’s stretch mark free, so that’s good!

Allergies haven’t been great for me, which has made me look forward to winter. I can’t be allergic and exhausted like this next summer with a little babe around. I’m excited to meet our little human and to become best friends with him or her!

I love feeling the baby move inside of me. Love it. I’ve gained about 15+ lbs so far I think. I’ve been trying to eat healthy and not be a sloth, and I’ve been doing alright with that. :) Been drinking water pretty well – gotta take good care of the bebe!

Oh! I watched a birth video and have been reading more about it, and I’m scared and nervous to push a baby out of me! But women have been doing it for ages, and if I’m good and in tune with nature :) my body should know what it’s doing. I need to do mo’ yoga because that’ll help me with everything. But seriously, birth, wow. But then… BABY!

Boat cleaning is going great, since I pretty much have one boat. It’s so nice to not be down there till 11 or 12 every night. Usually I’m always done by 8. Today I could’ve been done at 6, but here it is 9 pm, and now I’ll head down there. :) I wonder how many boat cleaning procrastination blog posts I have…

I feel really blessed and grateful for my good life full of people I love.

Hay-cent-chee-ment-chee… that means recently. 

Here’s some pictures that I’m too sleepy to write much about. :)

I LOVE MY BELLY. Thanks so much to our good friend Jeanee for taking some stellar photos of us!

A great kayaking trip. 

And Chris has had some great airplane time. All is well with us. 

What a great day. So many fun memories were made today. But Chris just left for Anchorage/Talkeetna for a few days, then I’ll be gone kayaking for a few days, so I won’t see him till Saturday night or so, and that makes me really sad. I just like him and I love him and I don’t want to sleep alone or be alone or take care of all these animals by myself. :( He told me to have fun while he was gone, but I’ve just been moping around the last hour and haven’t done anything but take care of my sims hahaha, and scroll through the same Facebook feed a few times. I need to go take the pooch for a walk, which will make us both happier, but I don’t want to get more allergic outside. Anyway….

Today was such a good day. We had the best boat ride ever across the bay to Seldovia this morning, to participate in the 4th of July festivities. We listened to some great classic music on the way like Peter, Paul, and Mary and Neil Diamond. And we cruised across the sea super speedy and even saw a whale!!

My house is so messy right now and it’s really bothering me. I don’t like having all this extra stuff around that we need to get rid of. Stuff stuff. I’m not doing much to fix it right now though, because I’m sad Chris is gone and don’t want to do anything. I’m maybe slightly more emotional being pregnant, but I’m still pretty level. 

I did run into the airplane wing the other day with my head, and that made me really sad even though I was laughing too. It was so funny when it happened. It knocked me to the ground and Chris and I started cracking up. Then I started crying and that was funny too. That was a day Chris left for a couple days, so maybe I was just sad too. 

Back to today… Lots of fun and festivity! And I saw one of my favorite high school teachers who I haven’t seen for years! It was so great catching up. It’d be wonderful and rewarding and difficult to be a teacher.

Seldovia is a pretty cool place, especially on the fourth. What a unique little town. I wonder what it’s like living there. 

We got a big cinnamon roll that I enjoyed some of, and ate too much of. :) And we watched Jordin and some others do some snagging. 

I came to Seldovia two years ago for Independence Day, but Chris didn’t. Our first time was a few years ago, which I can’t find the picture of. But we have some great fotos from that day, and this day as well! 

On our boat ride home we saw a load of whales! Most likely humpbacks in pretty sure. It was so awesome. We all loved it. What huge creatures… 

Chris and I started watching the Patriot when we got home. Good movie, but wow, it’s so graphic and violet! I turn my head away for plenty of it, but good and well done. And then Chris spilled his salsa all over the carpet haha. Good thing I haven’t cleaned the carpets yet! 

We all watched our Homer parade which was a hit, as always. Then we are at my sister and her husband’s house. Good food and good family! Then Chris helped me clean a couple boats. What a peach he is.